All around me are young women worrying about not being thin enough, not having big enough breasts, not having fairer skin, not having PERFECT skin (whatever that means), not having perfect hair... the list goes on and on.
Everyday media - print and television, movies and billboards all around us feed us images of the "IDEAL" woman - one who looks "PERFECT" and is the stereotype that seems to be the patriarchal society's dream - she cooks, she cleans, looks "hot" and is ever ready to satisfy man's every fantasy. So many people looking at this image media portrays, are not even aware of how impossible these ideals are and how it affects women's mental health all over the world.
BEAUTY REDEFINED aka the rocking duo Lexie and Lindsay did this amazing project. I have written about their work and linked their articles before on my post - Me and My Body Image. They put up positive body image billboards in the region of Norther Utah in the western state of the United States - Utah.
With their permission I am putting up images of their billboards, to read the original post about the billboard campaign go here.
Imagine driving/riding around in your city and while you are at a traffic light you look up to see these billboards rather than a skinny woman in a seductive pose. It would change my day! Lexie and Lindsay you are awesome.
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| Featuring Lexie Co-founder of Beauty Redefined |
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| Featuring the beautiful 9-year old Olivia A. |
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| Featuring Lindsay Co-founder of Beauty Redefined |
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| Featuring the beautiful Lidsay S. |
Watch a video of the two incredible women talking about their project on Fox News here.
Read more about the Billboard campaign here
Excerpts of some of their articles you must read...
How Girls and Women Can Take Back Beauty
Below
are several strategies girls and women can use to recognize and reject
harmful messages about female bodies and then redefine “beauty” for
themselves in much more worthwhile ways!
Stop Negative Self-Talk: Too many girls and women
have a constant script of mean thoughts about themselves running through
their minds. That kind of negativity is not motivational or
inspirational. In fact, it tends to show up on the outside. Recent
studies show us that girls who don’t like their bodies become more
sedentary over time and pay less attention to having a healthy diet. And
that makes sense. If you think you’re gross and worthless, why would
you take care of yourself?
READ MORE...
How Boys and Men Can Help Take Back Beauty
Below
are some practical tips that boys and men can use in the battle to take
back beauty. This important cause can be greatly benefited by the
support of males who care!
RUN from Normalized Pornography: Depicting sexual images and dialogue is now a normal part of media all hours of the day, and it is presented as “safe” in advertisements, catalogs, TV shows, movies, men’s and women’s magazines,
books, video games, websites, billboards, etc. Research is very clear
that pornography changes the way men and women view each other, it gets
in the way of us forming loving and healthy relationships with family
and friends, it skews our perceptions of female bodies, our sense of
self-worth, and our sense of women’s worth. Do not just walk away – RUN
from it!
READ MORE...
10 comments:
It's a brilliant concept! Hope they are able to get the message out there to as many women as possible!! Thanks for sharing! The need for perfection never ends , does it? There was a brilliant doco by the BBC called Beauty and the Beast which followed 5 beauty-obsessed individuals and 5 individuals with some deformities. And to be honest, the beauty obsessed ones came across as freaks with the amount of botox and other crap on them!
Amazinggg !!!
A groundbreaking concept indeed....it's the radical idea that we are beautiful the way god made us...Whoaaaa..who knew ???
The mad race for beauty and vanity all over the world, is truly reaching epic proportions, now people seem to wanna get everything changed in their bodies and the end result, if I may be so blunt is almost a cross between a human and an alien...
If only we all realized our self-worth...but sadly we all have played into the hands of the media and beauty industry and wanna look 'beautiful' in the media sense all the time...
I hope this campaign gains more and more popularity ....will check out the links...thanks...
I simply love this. I know how obsessed we get about body image! :) I LOVE the post about what men can do. So perfect!! :D
Loved this post!! :) More people must read and hopefully the vicious cycle of caring will end at some time. :)
@ Psych Babbler,
I thought it was brilliant too. I will try and get hold of the documentary Beauty and the Beast - sounds interesting. The need for perfection actually goes against the survival of the fittest law of nature I am beginning to think.
@ AAD
Ground breaking indeed. When you look at some of the blunders of Botox and other such treatments, we do sometimes end up looking like anything but human. I hope they gain more and more popularity too.
@ Srinidhi
Its pretty awesome the post what men can do! A billboard is such a big statement. Those places that feed us 'perfect' ideals will for just a month give women a positive message. Gives hope for change.
Thank you so much for this wonderful support! I responded to your comment on my site, but I want to thank you again for helping my sister and I spread TRUE, positive, uplifting messages about women's worth and capabilities far and wide! Knowing these messages are reaching wonderful women in India is so exciting. Thank you sincerely for the shout-out and please keep up your wonderful work on behalf of men and women everywhere!
Thanks Lexie and Lindsay, you know I love your work and as I said I am so GLAD to share.
The kind of work you do is inspiring and gives us hope for a more gender equal society world over.
I just LOVE how-to's. Instead of sitting and moping about a world so cruel, doing something about it SO much more useful!! I love the links P! Its so "Do Something right now"-y
Happy you liked it A!
I had to share their work, for the very reason that you mention - It is so change the world today kind of approach!
I love it, I love them!
Insightful blog, especially liked this post. Reminded me of a recent experiment by a sociology graduate on avoiding mirrors -- just google 'UCLA Daily Bruin mirrors' and you'll find it (URL's unbelievably long to be pasted here!).
About pornography, well I'm not sure if it is as pathological as made out to be (and I'm a woman myself...). Some of the most egalitarian societies, gender-wise, are also the biggest porn consumers. Research in this case has been very mixed, isn't it. In excess, yes it's bad. And so are many other things:)
Keep writing :)
Hi Raheel, welcome here. Thanks for reading. I have read about the living without mirrors research on an American blog.
I agree with you about pornography. It does depend on the kind of pornography though. I do think that normalised pornography I.e women projected as sexualised objects In media, billboards, etc does mess up perceptions about the role of women.
Glad you enjoyed it. Keep visiting :-)
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